Liam Scales (born 8 August 1998) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or left-back for Scottish Premiership club Aberdeen, on loan from Celtic.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1998-08-08) 8 August 1998 (age 24) | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team |
Aberdeen (on loan from Celtic) | ||
| Number | 4 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Arklow Town | |||
| 2015 | UCD | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2016–2019 | UCD | 93 | (7) |
| 2020–2021 | Shamrock Rovers | 39 | (2) |
| 2020 | Shamrock Rovers II | 1 | (1) |
| 2021– | Celtic | 5 | (1) |
| 2022– | → Aberdeen (loan) | 13 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| 2019–2020 | Republic of Ireland U21 | 6 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 12:05, 13 November 2022 (UTC) | |||
Scales is from Barndarrig, County Wicklow.[2] He studied Irish and geography at University College Dublin.[2] He is a fluent Irish speaker.[3]
Scales began his career with Arklow Town before signing for UCD in 2015,[4] making over 100 appearances for the club, and winning the Collingwood Cup[5] as well as the League of Ireland First Division title in 2018.[2] He was described as "a key player for UCD as they won the First Division title".[6] Scales was voted by his fellow League of Ireland First Division players into the PFAI First Division Team of the Year for 2018.[7]
In 2019 he underwent trials at English clubs Manchester City,[8] and Bristol Rovers with him seeming to be set to sign for the latter before the deal fell through.[9][10]
He moved to Shamrock Rovers for the 2020 season,[11][12] and "played a significant part in their league success".[3] He also made seven appearances for the club in European competitions, scoring once.[13] In July 2021 he was described as "the hottest property in the League of Ireland" and linked with a transfer away from the club.[14]
On 26 November 2021, he was named in the PFAI Team of the Year for 2021, as voted by his fellow players.[15]
After 51 appearances for Shamrock Rovers, Scales signed a four-year contract with Scottish club Celtic in August 2021.[16][17][18] On 23 September 2021, he made his debut for Celtic in a 3–0 win over Raith Rovers in the Scottish League Cup at Celtic Park.[19] Scales made his league debut on 5 December 2021, coming on as a substitute to score the third goal in Celtic's 3–0 away win at Dundee United.[20]
Scales was loaned to Aberdeen in June 2022.[21]
Scales was a Republic of Ireland under-21 international,[4][16][22] winning six caps.[23]
He was called up to the Republic of Ireland senior team for the first time on 3 September 2021 alongside Alan Browne and Callum Robinson for the games against Azerbaijan and Serbia, with the trio replacing the injured Dara O'Shea, Nathan Collins and Shane Long.[24]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup[lower-alpha 1] | League Cup[lower-alpha 2] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| UCD | 2016 | League of Ireland First Division | 13 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 | |
| 2017 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 2[lower-alpha 3] | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2018 | 26 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 31 | 3 | |||
| 2019 | League of Ireland Premier Division | 30 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 2[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 36 | 1 | ||
| Total | 93 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 110 | 8 | |||
| Shamrock Rovers | 2020 | League of Ireland Premier Division | 16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 1[lower-alpha 4] | 0 | — | 20 | 0 | ||
| 2021 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 6[lower-alpha 5] | 1 | 1[lower-alpha 6] | 1 | 31 | 4 | |||
| Total | 39 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 51 | 4 | ||
| Shamrock Rovers II | 2020 | League of Ireland First Division | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Celtic | 2021–22[25] | Scottish Premiership | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4[lower-alpha 7] | 0 | — | 13 | 2 | |
| 2022–23[26] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 2 | ||
| Aberdeen (loan) | 2022–23[26] | Scottish Premiership | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 151 | 11 | 14 | 2 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 193 | 15 | ||
UCD
Shamrock Rovers
Celtic
Individual
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Aberdeen F.C. – current squad | |
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2018 PFAI First Division Team of the Year | |
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2021 PFAI Premier Division Team of the Year | |
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